Blog - Recursive Design

MAY 21 2011
Hiding ruby gem 'is deprecated with no replacement' messages

Filed under quickie, rails, ruby, and rvm.

How to hide all the ugly ruby deprecation messages when you upgrade... read more
MAY 20 2011
'405 Not Allowed' error serving Facebook apps with nginx

Filed under facebook, linux, nginx, and programming.

How to get around '405 Not Allowed' errors when building basic Facebook pages with nginx... read more
MAY 13 2011
Continuous integration for PHP with phpUnderControl

Filed under ant, continuous.integration, java, php, and programming.

A quick guide to getting the phpUnderControl continuous integration server running on Ubuntu... read more
MAY 04 2011
Weekend Project - Time Out In NZ

Filed under announcement, programming, rails, and ruby.

A quick weekend project to help people who've lost their homes in the Japanese quakes... read more
JAN 05 2011
Simple video remixes using The Echo Nest API

Filed under api, echonest, music, and programming.

A quick intro to remixing video using The Echo Nest API... read more
JAN 05 2011
A Christmas present from The Echo Nest

Filed under api, echonest, music, and programming.

Got a nice surprise in the mail... read more
DEC 14 2010
Face detection with OS X and python

Filed under opencv, osx, programming, and python.

How to detect faces with python and OpenCV on OS X... read more
DEC 08 2010
Jekyll plugins for categories, projects and sitemaps

Filed under jekyll, plugin, programming, ruby, and web.

A couple of Jekyll plugins we wrote to generate some of the content on this site... read more
DEC 07 2010
jQuery SimpleColor plugin hits version 1.0

Filed under announcement, javascript, jquery, plugin, programming, and web.

A few new features for the SimpleColor plugin, and a bump to v1.0... read more
DEC 07 2010
CompSci 101 - Big-O notation

Filed under algorithm, comp-sci-101, and programming.

An introduction to Big-O notation, as simply as I know how... read more
NOV 03 2010
A weekend project - fromthecache.com

Filed under announcement, company, html5, programming, rails, ruby, sass, and web.

A weekend project that provides transparent access to the Google cache via a web app... read more
OCT 21 2010
Introducing Rails Kitchen Sink

Filed under announcement, company, html5, programming, rails, ruby, sass, and web.

Yet another rails-project-starter, but this time it's ours... read more
OCT 12 2010
Static blogging the Jekyll way

Filed under company, html5, jekyll, programming, ruby, sass, and web.

An overview of some of the technologies we used to build the new site... read more
OCT 03 2010
HABTM before_filter in rails models

Filed under database, habtm, quickie, rails, and ruby.

How to automatically add an object to a habtm field on save... read more
OCT 03 2010
Excluding fields from rails json and xml output

Filed under json, quickie, rails, rest, ruby, and xml.

How to stop specific fields from being output when rendering to json or xml... read more
SEP 30 2010
How to create a TextMate bundle

Filed under osx, programming, and textmate.

How to create a (very) simple TextMate bundle and add some commands... read more
SEP 29 2010
New 'projects' section launched

Filed under announcement, company, and web.

Our open source projects now have a proper home... read more
SEP 24 2010
Security testing with Google's ratproxy

Filed under apache, linux, osx, php, ratproxy, security, and zend.

How to get up and running with ratproxy, and fix a few of the errors... read more
SEP 23 2010
recurser.com has a new home - update your feeds please!

Filed under announcement, company, and web.

The content from recurser.com has been moved to a new home... read more
SEP 14 2010
SSH Authentication refused: bad ownership or modes for directory

Filed under linux, security, and ssh.

A few tips on debugging SSH public key authentication problems... read more
SEP 14 2010
Integrating Jekyll with FeedBurner

Filed under feedburner, jekyll, rss, ruby, and web.

A few pointers on setting up FeedBurner for your Jekyll site... read more
SEP 13 2010
New site launched!

Filed under announcement, company, and web.

I'm very happy to announce the launch of our new site... read more
MAR 17 2010
Push and delete remote git branches

Filed under git, programming, quickie, and version control.

A few simple pointers on managing remote git branches... read more
MAR 16 2010
Compiling Nginx with flv streaming support on Ubuntu

Filed under flash, flex, java, linux, nginx, programming, streaming, ubuntu, and web.

A quick guide to compiling and installing nginx with flv streaming support on Ubuntu... read more
MAR 16 2010
Compiling and running red5 flash server on OSX

Filed under flash, flex, java, osx, programming, streaming, and web.

How to get Red5 flash streaming server up and running on OS X... read more
MAR 14 2010
Installing Flex 4 (Gumbo) SDK on OS X

Filed under flash, flex, osx, programming, and web.

How to install and configure the new Flex 4 SDK on OS X.... read more
MAR 06 2010
sources.list For Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04

Filed under apt-get, aptitude, linux, quickie, and ubuntu.

I always have to go looking for this, so here it is... read more
MAR 06 2010
How to find out if Ubuntu is 32 bit or 64 bit

Filed under linux and quickie.

A quickie that i always forget.... read more
FEB 14 2010
Updating RubyGems on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Filed under git, linux, osx, programming, ruby, and version control.

How to update RubyGems from v1.0.1 to v1.3.5 on OS X... read more
FEB 14 2010
Installing git-up on Ubuntu 8.10

Filed under git, linux, programming, ruby, and version control.

How to get git-up running properly on Ubuntu 8.10... read more
NOV 18 2009
nginx error - 413 Request Entity Too Large

Filed under linux, nginx, programming, quickie, and web.

How to increase the allowed file upload size in Nginx, and stop 413 Request Entity Too Large errors... read more
NOV 12 2009
Makefile - missing separator. Stop.

Filed under linux, make, programming, and quickie.

How to fix missing separator errors in Makefiles... read more
NOV 10 2009
NoReverseMatch : custom registration templates break django unit tests

Filed under django, programming, python, quickie, and web.

How to fix NoReverseMatch errors in the django auth and django-registration test suites when you are using customized login and registration templates... read more
OCT 16 2009
Sending Django email with Gmail

Filed under django, programming, python, quickie, and web.

How to set up your Django application so email is sent through Gmail... read more
AUG 18 2009
Compiling mysql-python on OS X leopard

Filed under database, django, mysql, osx, programming, python, and quickie.

How to get around a few of the problems you may encounter trying to install mysql-python bindings on OS X Leopard... read more
AUG 17 2009
'Hello World' with Scala and Lift on OSX

Filed under database, java, lift, osx, programming, scala, and web.

How to install Scala and Lift on OS X, and create a simple sample project... read more
AUG 11 2009
mysql select random row with join

Filed under database, mysql, and programming.

A couple of attempts to select random rows via a join in MySQL... read more
AUG 10 2009
Passing IPs to apache with nginx proxy

Filed under apache, linux, nginx, programming, and web.

How to configure Apache to pick up the correct IP address for logs etc, when requests are proxied from Nginx... read more
AUG 10 2009
Customize the Nginx server header

Filed under linux, nginx, programming, and web.

How to alter the 'server' header in Nginx... read more
AUG 09 2009
InnoDB as default MySQL table type

Filed under database, innodb, linux, mysql, programming, and quickie.

How to change the default MySQL table type... read more
AUG 05 2009
Flushing the DNS cache on OS X

Filed under dns, linux, osx, quickie, and web.

How to manually flush the DNS cache on OS X to force /etc/hosts changes to take effect... read more
JUN 18 2009
MySQL table 'is marked as crashed'

Filed under database, linux, programming, and quickie.

What to do if you are getting an error similar to 'mysqldump: Got error: 145: Table xxxxx is marked as crashed and should be repaired when using LOCK TABLES'... read more
JUN 06 2009
python 2.5 zipimport.ZipImportError on OS X

Filed under linux, osx, programming, python, and quickie.

How to get fix "zipimport.ZipImportError: can't decompress data; zlib not available" errors running python 2.5 on OS X... read more
JUN 06 2009
Python 2.5 "ImportError: No module named _md5" on OS X

Filed under linux, osx, programming, python, and quickie.

What to do if you are getting an "ImportError: No module named _md5" using Python 2.5 on OS X... read more
JUN 06 2009
HTTPSHandler error using python 2.5 and GAE on OS X

Filed under linux, osx, programming, python, quickie, and web.

How to fix "AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'HTTPSHandler'" errors running python 2.5 on OS X... read more
JUN 02 2009
Exclude tables from mysqldump

Filed under database, linux, programming, and quickie.

How to exclude certain tables from mysqldump... read more
APR 29 2009
'spec/rake/spectask' errors doing rake db:migrate

Filed under linux, programming, quickie, ruby, and web.

What to do if you get "no such file to load -- spec/rake/spectask_" errors running rake db:migrate... read more
APR 29 2009
Rename authors in a git repository

Filed under git, linux, programming, and version control.

How to change the author details in a remote git repository... read more
APR 26 2009
'Can't find Magick-config' error installing rmagick gem

Filed under linux, programming, quickie, ruby, and web.

How to fix a 'Can't find Magick-config' error when installing the rmagick gem... read more
FEB 24 2009
undefined method assert_valid_keys in Rails

Filed under database, programming, quickie, rails, ruby, and web.

How to fix 'undefined method assert_valid_keys' errors in Rails... read more
DEC 29 2008
Styling Apache directory listings with mod_autoindex

Filed under apache, linux, mod_autoindex, programming, and web.

How to use Apache's mod_autoindex module to style directory listings... read more
DEC 23 2008
Nginx adds strange characters using rails/memcached_pass

Filed under linux, memcached, nginx, programming, quickie, rails, ruby, and web.

How to stop strange characters appearing when using rails, memcached and the nginx memcached_pass directive... read more
DEC 22 2008
Phusion Passenger PassengerMaxPoolSize is ignored

Filed under apache, programming, quickie, rails, ruby, and web.

How to setup apache so that the Phusion Passenger PassengerMaxPoolSize, PassengerMaxInstancesPerApp and PassengerPoolIdleTime directives are not ignored... read more
DEC 21 2008
Pylons - LookupError: Entry point 'main' not found in egg

Filed under linux, programming, python, quickie, and web.

How to fix 'LookupError: Entry point 'main' not found in egg' errors in Pylons... read more
DEC 03 2008
memcaches_page plugin for Rails

Filed under linux, memcached, plugin, programming, rails, ruby, and web.

A Rails plugin to cache entire pages to memcached, allowing you to use nginx to serve your site directly from memory... read more
NOV 26 2008
Gantt Calendar plugin for Trac

Filed under linux, plugin, programming, python, and web.

Adds Gantt chart and calendar functionality for Trac tickets... read more
OCT 24 2008
iTerm Delete Key Config

Filed under linux, osx, programming, and quickie.

Fix up peculiar delete key behaviour in OS X... read more
SEP 17 2008
Styling subversion listings with xslt

Filed under linux, programming, version control, and web.

How to style Apache Subversion listings using XSLT and the Apache SVNIndexXSLT directive... read more
SEP 11 2008
Rewrite Trac links to Redmine with nginx

Filed under linux, programming, version control, and web.

How to use nginx's 'rewrite' functionality to redirect trac-style links to redmine... read more
AUG 17 2008
Disable store links in iTunes 8

Filed under linux, programming, version control, and web.

How to turn off the store links in iTunes 8... read more
JUL 27 2008
Installing Trac on CentOS

Filed under database, linux, programming, python, version control, and web.

How to set up Trac and Subversion on CentOS... read more
JUL 27 2008
Filesystem path is neither a file nor a directory 160013 - SVN / Trac Error

Filed under linux, programming, python, version control, and web.

How to get around a 'Filesystem path .... is neither a file nor a directory' error with Trac and SVN... read more
JUL 15 2008
Simulate delayed-fade in jQuery

Filed under javascript, jquery, programming, quickie, and web.

How to create a fade effect after a delay in jQuery... read more
JUL 14 2008
svn: Can't find a temporary directory: Internal error

Filed under linux, programming, quickie, subversion, and version control.

How to fix SVN 'Can't find a temporary directory: Internal error'... read more
JUN 23 2008
Setup 64bit CentOS (PHP5, MySQL, memcached, ketama)

Filed under database, linux, php, programming, and web.

A script to setup 64bit CentOS with PHP5, MySQL, memcached and ketama... read more
JUN 23 2008
PHP5 on OS X Leopard

Filed under osx, php, programming, and web.

How to get PHP5 running on an OS X Leopard machine... read more
JUN 23 2008
Force MySQL Encoding to UTF8

Filed under database, linux, mysql, programming, and web.

How to force MySQL to use UTF8 encoding by default... read more
JUN 23 2008
Browser detection with PHP

Filed under linux, osx, php, programming, and web.

How to set up and use PHP's get_browser() function to detect client browsers... read more
MAR 27 2008
Subversion Server on CentOS

Filed under linux, programming, subversion, version control, and web.

How to set up a subversion server with apache and CentOS... read more
MAR 11 2008
Format JSON with PHP

Filed under javascript, json, php, programming, and web.

A PHP function for formatting and indenting a JSON string... read more
FEB 21 2008
jQuery i18n Translation Plugin

Filed under japanese, javascript, jquery, plugin, programming, and web.

A jquery plugin for doing client-side i18n translation... read more
DEC 18 2007
jQuery SimpleColor Color-Picker

Filed under javascript, jquery, plugin, programming, and web.

A very simple color-picker plugin for jQuery... read more
DEC 05 2007
Default Values With Hibernate Annotations

Filed under database, hibernate, java, programming, quickie, and web.

How to set the default value of a field with Hibernate... read more
DEC 05 2007
Complex Constants in Java

Filed under java, programming, and quickie.

How to assign a complex class (such as a HashMap / ArrayList etc) as a constant in Java... read more
DEC 05 2007
Adding Appfuse Dependencies

Filed under appfuse, java, programming, quickie, and web.

How to add a dependency to AppFuse... read more
DEC 02 2007
MySQL Delete On Joined Tables

Filed under database, mysql, programming, and quickie.

How to delete records from MySQL using joined fields... read more
NOV 28 2007
Get complete AppFuse sources

Filed under appfuse, java, programming, quickie, and web.

How to get the complete, exploded source of an AppFuse application... read more
NOV 27 2007
Skip AppFuse Tests

Filed under appfuse, java, programming, quickie, and web.

How to skip tests when compiling/running AppFuse applications... read more
NOV 27 2007
Appfuse "failed to lazily initialize a collection of role"

Filed under appfuse, database, java, programming, quickie, and web.

Fix the 'failed to lazily initialize a collection of role' error in AppFuse... read more
NOV 26 2007
Hibernate OneToMany Relationships

Filed under database, hibernate, java, programming, quickie, spring mvc, and web.

An example of a one-to-many relationship using Spring MVC and Hibernate... read more
NOV 21 2007
Hibernate 'TYPE=storage_engine is deprecated'

Filed under database, hibernate, java, programming, quickie, and web.

Fixing 'TYPE=storage_engine is deprecated' warnings in Hibernate... read more
AUG 09 2007
Multibyte-safe CSV Parser

Filed under csv, japanese, php, programming, and web.

A multibyte-safe CSV parser i wrote for a recent project... read more
JUL 26 2007
JScript Debugger for IE

Filed under javascript, programming, quickie, and web.

How to install and enable JavaScript debugging for Internet Explorer... read more
JUL 25 2007
Useful JScript Array Functions

Filed under javascript, programming, and web.

clear, inArray and remove functions for manipulating javascript arrays... read more
JUL 25 2007
Set OS X Default Shell

Filed under linux, osx, programming, and quickie.

How to change the default shell in OS X... read more
JUL 25 2007
Regex to reject an extension

Filed under programming and quickie.

A regular expression expression to reject strings with a certain extension... read more
JUL 25 2007
OS X zsh shell config

Filed under linux, osx, programming, and quickie.

zsh shell configuration file for OS X... read more
JUL 25 2007
Javascript Hash Class

Filed under javascript, programming, and web.

A javascript Hash implementation... read more
JUN 04 2007
Multiple DBs in CakePHP

Filed under database, php, programming, and web.

How to hack cake to use different databases for different models... read more
JUN 04 2007
External Sessions in CakePHP

Filed under php, programming, security, and web.

How to import a session from an existing PHP application into a cake application... read more
JUN 04 2007
Add Dreamweaver Extensions

Filed under php, programming, and quickie.

How to color-code extra extensions in Dreamweaver CS3... read more
MAY 16 2007
Replacing text with sed

Filed under php, programming, and quickie.

How to use sed to replace text in files... read more
APR 13 2007
Quit cocoa app on window close

Filed under cocoa, objective c, osx, programming, and quickie.

How to make your cocoa application exit when the window is closed... read more
APR 13 2007
Cocoa drag to dock to open

Filed under cocoa, objective c, osx, and programming.

How to set up your cocoa application so it will open files dropped on it's dock icon... read more
APR 10 2007
Supported tags for Japanese phones

Filed under html, japanese, mobile, programming, and web.

List of tags supported by i-Mode, Vodafone and KDDI phones... read more
APR 05 2007
Format XML with PHP

Filed under php, programming, web, and xml.

A PHP function for formatting and indenting an XML string... read more
APR 05 2007
Cocoa NSTextView setHidden

Filed under cocoa, objective c, os x, programming, and quickie.

How to hide an NSTextView in objective C... read more
APR 02 2007
Installing MySql/PDO for PHP

Filed under database, linux, php, programming, and web.

How to install PDO/MySql to fix Zend_Db_Adapter_Exception errors in Zend Framework... read more
APR 02 2007
Compile LibTorrent on OSX

Filed under bittorrent, linux, osx, and programming.

How to to compile libtorrent on OS X... read more
MAR 27 2007
Change the SSH login message

Filed under linux, quickie, security, and ssh.

How to customize your SSH login screen... read more
MAR 22 2007
Vi as default crontab editor

Filed under cron, linux, osx, programming, and quickie.

Change the default crontab editor... read more
MAR 22 2007
Stop cron emails

Filed under cron, linux, quickie, security, and ssh.

Stop annoying emails every time a cron job is run... read more
MAR 08 2007
Install Ubuntu SSH server

Filed under linux, quickie, security, and ssh.

Ubuntu Enterprise 6 doesn't seem to install sshd out-of-the-box... read more
MAR 08 2007
Configure Ubuntu w/ Static IP

Filed under linux, quickie, security, and web.

Ubuntu Enterprise 6 doesn't seem to give an option to enter a static IP during install if you have DHCP available... read more
FEB 19 2007
Installing Trac

Filed under database, linux, programming, python, version control, and web.

Trac can be a little tricky to install. Here's the steps that worked for me... read more
FEB 18 2007
Svn server w/ Apache

Filed under database, linux, programming, subversion, version control, and web.

A walk-through for setting up a subversion server hosted by http/apache... read more
FEB 07 2007
Cake actions from the terminal

Filed under linux, php, programming, quickie, and web.

How to call CakePHP actions from the command line... read more
FEB 06 2007
Find large folders

Filed under linux and quickie.

How to find the largest n folders on linux... read more
JAN 02 2007
Delete files by extension

Filed under linux, programming, and quickie.

How to recursively delete all files with a given extension on linux... read more
DEC 31 2006
Splitting up Django models

Filed under django, linux, programming, python, and quickie.

Django models are all grouped in one file by default. Here's how to split them up into logical groups... read more
OCT 04 2006
Shell coloring for iTerm

Filed under linux, osx, programming, and quickie.

Make iTerm easier to use with shell coloring... read more
SEP 28 2006
Recover Corrupted Svn DB

Filed under database, linux, programming, quickie, subversion, and version control.

How to recover your repository if you're getting 'Corrupted' error messages... read more
SEP 27 2006
Useful .bashrc Functions

Filed under bash, linux, programming, and quickie.

A couple of useful functions for .bashrc... read more
SEP 27 2006
Installing Subversion

Filed under linux, programming, subversion, and version control.

Subversion installation how-to... read more
SEP 27 2006
Get SVN Revision No.

Filed under linux, programming, quickie, subversion, and version control.

Simple one-liner for getting the svn revision number... read more
SEP 27 2006
Flash Lite 'Out Of Memory'

Filed under flash, mobile, programming, and quickie.

How to increase the default memory limit when building Flash Lite applications... read more
SEP 26 2006
Turn On Vi Syntax Coloring

Filed under linux, programming, quickie, and vi.

How to turn on vi syntax colouring on RedHat... read more
AUG 20 2006
Rails NameError

Filed under programming, rails, ruby, and web.

How to fix 'NameError (uninitialized constant UnknownAction)' error in rails... read more
AUG 18 2006
Useful Vi Commands

Filed under linux, programming, and vi.

A bunch of useful Vi commands... read more
AUG 17 2006
Stop SSH and SFTP timeout

Filed under linux, security, and ssh.

Quick fix to stop SSH connections timing out... read more
AUG 16 2006
Opening a port on linux

Filed under iptables, linux, and security.

read more
AUG 15 2006
Subversion Commands

Filed under linux, programming, subversion, and version control.

A bunch of useful subversion commands... read more